Devices for monitoring cardiac events (e.g., arrhythmia, myocardial infarction, etc.) and the cardiac electrical activity are well known in the art. These include external devices generally known as Electro-Cardiograms (ECG) wherein a plurality of electrodes are positioned at predetermined locations on a patient's body for monitoring the electrical waves corresponding to the various states of the heart. ECG devices that can be subcutaneously implanted in a patient are also well known and widely used.
Subcutaneous devices having integrated electrodes used for monitoring cardiac electrical activity are restricted in size to ensure that the electrodes are sufficiently spaced apart for providing an electrical potential difference that is large enough to give useful information about a given ECG signal. However, there is an ever increasing desire for miniaturization for ease of surgically implanting and/or replacing the device with minimally invasive procedures, and also for lending comfort to the patient after a device has been implanted. As can be appreciated, decreasing the size of a subcutaneous device also decreases the distance between the device's integrated electrodes. This then decreases the amplitude of the cardiac electrical signal measured by the electrodes, along with likely decreasing the signal-to-noise ratio.